Another seven days have slipped by and once again it’s time for Whewell’s Gazette the weekly #histSTM links list bringing its eager readers the best from the last seven days of the histories of science, technology and medicine swept up from the distance corners of cyberspace for their perusal and delectation.

The history of science theatre event of the year is without any doubt Nicole Kidman making a rare appearance on the London stage as Rosalind Franklin in “Photograph 51”. Unfortunately the play, which is not new, perpetuates a major history of science myth in its very title. The myth says that Maurice Wilkins showed Franklin’s x-ray crystallography photograph 51 of DNA to James Watson without her permission and he was able to solve the structure of DNA upon seeing it.

As Matthew Cobb has clearly shown in his new book Life’s Great Secret nearly everything in this story is false. Photograph 51 was not made by Franklin but by Raymond Gosling who had been Wilkins’ doctoral student, was then transferred to Franklin and then back to Wilkins’ as Franklin decided to leave the King’s College laboratory. At the time Wilkins showed the photo to Watson he was Gosling’s doctoral supervisor and so was perfectly entitled to do so, although whether he was wise to do so is another question. More important despite the claims he made in his book, The Double Helix, Watson would not have been able to determine the structure of DNA from this photo.

More interestingly it was Crick who actually derived the structure of DNA using, amongst other things, data from Franklin’s work that she herself had made public in a lecture that Crick attended.

It is interesting to see how the critics reacted to this new historical information. In her review in the Telegraph Kate Mulcahy claims that “The debate rages on” whilst at the same time linking to Cobb’s earlier Guardian article laying out the true facts; in my opinion more than somewhat disingenuous. In his excellent review in the Guardian, Stephen Curry points out that “the real story is…more complex” (with reference to the use of Photograph 51) whilst linking in a footnote to the Cobb article with the comment. Matthew Cobb’s recent article gives an efficient summary of the facts of the matter”.

Whatever it would appear from the review that the piece is well worth going to see.

“Genius and science have burst the limits of space, and few observations, explained by just reasoning, have unveiled the mechanism of the universe. Would it not also be glorious for men to burst the limits of time, and, by a few observations, to ascertain the history of this world, and the series of events which preceded the birth of the human race?” – Georges Cuvier h/t @hist_astro

“Every book is the wreck of a perfect idea.” – Iris Murdoch h/t @askpang

“In the UK we call them lifts but in the US they call them elevators, because we’re raised differently”. – Moose Allain (@MooseAllain)

“Does anyone know what the smallest number is that can’t be described in a single tweet?” – Guy Longworth (@GuyLongworth)

Ding dong dell

Pussy’s in the well

Who put her in?

Schrödinger, Erwin

What is her state?

Indeterminate – Matthew Hankins (@mc_hankins)

He was very careful during bondage sessions. He always used a safe word that contained upper and lower case letters and at least one number. – @50Nerds of Grey

[History] does not use induction or deduction, it does not demonstrate, it narrates. —Collingwood discussing Croce. h/t @gabridli

Indigenous rock art in Kakadu national park in the Northern Territory. Researchers say stories about sea level rises in Australia date back though more than 7,000 years of continuous oral tradition. Photograph: Helen Davidson for the Guardian